Postdoctoral Research Associate II, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

AGU embraces the global community and welcomes leaders representing various identities, voices, and perspectives. List any identities, voices, and perspectives you would bring, including but not limited to nationality, regional representations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and anything else you feel comfortable sharing.

As an early career Director, I look forward to bringing fresh perspective and new energy to the Board. I will bring my identity as an academic researcher whose current work and interests lie both in the discovery and solution-science priorities outlined in AGU’s strategic plan. I bring over ten years of experience collaborating with international teams, and believe strongly that AGU’s strategic plan, and Earth sciences as a whole, are bettered when broad and diverse groups of people can flourish in a safe, open, respectful, and team-oriented working environment. In recognizing the well-documented inequities and systemic issues that permeate our fields, I commit to using my leadership role and privilege to ensure the voices of those who have been historically marginalized and excluded are heard and brought to bear on decisions.

Volunteer experience that relates to this position:

Within AGU, I have served as a Voices for Science Policy Fellow, a Digital User Group member, on the committee revising AGU's Position Statement on Earth and Space Science Data, and a collaborator with the Open Science Leadership Team. Beyond AGU, I serve as Co-Chair for the Research Data Alliance international Working Group “Coordinating Earth, Space, and Environmental Science Data Preservation and Scholarly Publication Processes” and am a Community Fellow with Earth Science Information Partners.

Board members work together with other volunteer leaders and staff to play a key role in implementing AGU’s strategic plan. What aspects of the strategic plan do you see yourself contributing to the most? How would you work with others to advance AGU’s values, vision, mission, and goals?

I am a creative and mission-driven scientist. A metamorphic geologist by training, I am currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the College of Information Science at the University of Arizona, where I research community usage and needs for Earth and space science sample and data repositories. This expertise is particularly relevant for AGU’s strategic goal to “catalyze discovery and solutions to scientific and societal challenges.” This goal emphasizes integration of emerging technologies, leadership in open science, and bridging discovery and solution-based science. I see open science supporting AGU’s strategic goal to “promote and exemplify an inclusive scientific culture” by enabling democratization of data, facilitating ease of use of data resources, and building infrastructure and community norms that support better data provenance and attribution.

We are at an exciting and important time for AGU - the strategic plan’s ambitious expansion of what defines the AGU community opens new potential realms of engagement. Working with new partners will bring vitality to AGU’s solution science aims, enhance AGU’s existing strength in supporting discovery science, and expose new groups to the value of AGU membership. I work best as part of a team working towards shared goals, and thus am enthusiastic about the opportunity to work together with Board directors, other volunteer leaders, and staff. As Board director, I see these groups as equal partners in articulating ideas and visions for realizing AGU’s strategic plan and will listen openly to alternative perspectives, referencing AGU’s values, vision, and mission regularly in carrying out my role.

Section affiliations:

Informatics; Tectonophysics; Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology